Manish Tandon Of Zensar: Lessons I Learned From Last Year To Take Our Organization to the Next Level in 2024
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Learning is incremental. You learn about the softer aspects of client behavior, of employees, and how they respond to certain stimuli. You learn to understand a lot of things about what partners are expecting. You go out and hire people, so you understand what they are looking for in the new world, and frankly, it is different from what people were looking for a few years back. So, there are lots of incremental learnings which happen every day.
This series aims to discuss the experiences and lessons learned by top executives over the past year, and how these insights are shaping the landscape for change and innovation in 2024. The past year has been a time of unprecedented challenges and opportunities, requiring adaptive leadership and innovative strategies. We believe that sharing these experiences can inspire and guide others in their endeavors to drive positive change in their organizations and industries. I had the pleasure of interviewing Manish Tandon, CEO of Zensar.
Manish Tandon is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Zensar, a global IT firm. He has over 27 years of experience and a proven track record of driving industry-leading revenue, profit, and growth. His new role as Zensar CEO was preceded by a 20-year tenure at Infosys Limited, where he led a $2 billion+ global healthcare, financial, insurance, life sciences, and technology business.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share a little about your background and what pivotal moments led you to your current position as an executive?
I grew up in a small town in northern India in a family that had very few graduates. I was good in Math and Science. One of the most pivotal moments of my career was getting into the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), one of the top engineering institutions in the world. And you know, coming from a background where you have not seen too much in terms of education, and suddenly you were here (at IIT Kanpur) with the crème-de-la-creme of the country. I think that changes your perspective, that changes your self-awareness, and I would rate it as one of the pivotal moments because of which I’m here.
What were the early challenges you faced in your career, and how did they shape your approach to leadership?
As a person, I am an introvert. In business, especially as a CEO, you can’t afford to be introverted. I think somewhere along the way, I realized that this is a limitation, and I worked on it, and I realized that ultimately, people are interested if you talk about them, and that’s the approach I took. That approach is also reflected in my leadership approach, which is to put the client at the center of the universe. So, client-centricity and customer orientation are core to our values.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
I would say I made lots of mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes, I would say, is from a strategy perspective. Going into a business that I ran and expanding into multiple areas, although they were related, for the organization, it did not make sense to expand into so many areas, and I think the most valuable lesson that I can say I’ve learned is being focused. I take up a smaller piece, concentrate on it, and become the best at it rather than try to do everything for everyone.
As an executive, how do you define success, both personally and for your organization?
For me, success is relative, so I would like to view my organization as being in the top quartile of its peer group that we define for ourselves. I would say that being relevant and doing programs and projects where you are relevant to your client instead of just making money is important for me. So, both in terms of quality- the kind of work that we do, and in terms of relative performance with the industry, that’s how I measure success.
Reflecting on 2023, what was the most unexpected challenge you faced, and how did you navigate it?
Challenges are always unexpected. Looking back at 2023, one of the biggest, unexpected challenges was that our most significant business segments saw a massive decline. I had recently become CEO of this company, and facing this new challenge was a very nasty surprise, which I had not planned for; no one at Zensar had planned for.
Now, as to the question of how you deal with it. It’s straightforward — you need to figure out what is going wrong and fix it, and simultaneously, you should accelerate the growth in other parts of the business so that it can pick up the slack there.
So, it’s having the ability to find out what is working well and what is not working and to address it quickly: that’s the way to handle it.
What was a significant risk you took this year, and how did it turn out?
From an individual perspective, joining Zensar was a risk. In 2023, the company was not doing too well, both from a revenue and profitability perspective. And I’m pleased to report that we are on the right path now. We have delivered excellent results on profitability, and we are well on our way to success on growth, too.
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
Our company’s mission has been to deliver- and deliver exceptionally- on human experiences and tie them up with engineering and human engagement. And we have a well-defined set of metrics to measure all of them. I mean things like customer satisfaction. A great thing we do is ask an independent agency to evaluate our performance regarding our customers and specifically on dimensions like how relevant we are to them.
Another critical thing that we do is measure employee happiness. Some folks have companies that measure employee satisfaction, but we measure employee happiness — this is something that is unique to us and fits right into the purpose-driven strategy that we have.
And obviously, your shareholders evaluate you every day, every hour, every minute. That is regular feedback from the markets about how you are performing and what they expect from you.
Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or have to make a tough decision that had a significant impact on finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?
We would never allow that situation to occur. Our value system as a company and as individuals is robust, and we want to avoid creating a trade-off between profits and social desirability and impact. We are active members of the UN Global Compact Network and UN Women and align with their agenda through our work in the DEI space. We try to be as kind to Mother Earth as possible through our ESG initiatives. We don’t allow ourselves to be in a situation where there is a conflict between the two, and if there is a conflict between the two, we weigh the pros and cons of both and decide based on that.
Have I ever been challenged by trying to make a tough decision? Yeah, our life is about making decisions. So, most of them are tough; otherwise, they wouldn’t come to me. Making tough decisions is Senior Executive 101.
Could you list the top five things you’ve learned in 2023, with specific examples of how these lessons impacted your decisions or strategies?
If I had to learn something afresh every time, then there is a problem with me being a CEO because if there is so much learning that I must go through, I’m obviously not serving the interests of the employees, my clients, and the shareholders. There are no “ah ha!” moments or Eureka moments. Learning is incremental. You learn about the softer aspects of client behavior, of employees, and how they respond to certain stimuli. You learn to understand a lot of things about what partners are expecting. You go out and hire people, so you understand what they are looking for in the new world, and frankly, it is different from what people were looking for a few years back. So, there are lots of incremental learnings which happen every day.
How have these top five lessons from 2023 changed your outlook or approach for 2024?
Well, I think the approach for 2024 has changed because of the fundamental changes that are going on in the industry today. Over the last few years, it has been all about digital technologies. In 2023, it is all about AI and its impact on our clients’ businesses, our businesses, and our employees.
In terms of innovation and adaptation, what’s one change you implemented in 2023 or plan to do in 2024 that you believe will be crucial for the future of your business?
I would say that for each company, this answer is going to be different. But as far as Zensar is concerned, it’s important that all the 11,000 plus people that we have in the organization have self-belief and belief that they can go head-to-head with the best in the world and win. That is the cultural change that I’m trying to drive. It is a journey, but we are getting there.
As a leader, how do you foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within your team or organization?
I strongly believe that first as a leader, you need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every member: strengths, weaknesses, and motivational levers for every member of your team. And I’m talking primarily about direct reports.
As a leader, I aim to make sure that people are leveraging their strengths entirely. Unlike other leaders whose approach is to work on people’s weaknesses and develop them, my approach is primarily this: how can these leaders leverage their strengths more effectively? One of the things that I always do is believe the best way to learn is to do, so I give people opportunities that go beyond their current role, developmental opportunities, assignments, and programs, and coach and guide them in terms of what is possible and how to go about it. And I do the same for myself.
Looking at the broader industry landscape, what emerging trends do you think will be most influential in the coming year?
GenAI is the big, big trend that will impact almost all facets of life. So that is something that will be quite influential not only in 2024 but for the next 2–3 years at least.
If you and I were having a conversation one year from now, and we were looking back at the past 12 months, what specifically has to happen for you to be happy with your progress?
Well, personally, happiness is a state of mind. So, if I feel happy, the objective for the organization that I have set for myself is to move to the top quartile, and given where we are now, if we can move one quartile every year in terms of peer performance, I think that will be something that I will look forward to and consider as significant progress.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
Our official website URL is: www.zensar.com
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Manish Tandon Of Zensar: Lessons I Learned From Last Year To Take Our Organization to the Next… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.